It had seemed nursing home care was spared the carnage afflicting many other areas of the two-year state budget that took effect on July 1. Despite tight revenue, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte and state senators made it a point of rejecting House-passed Medicaid cuts. And the appropriation for nursing home care represented a modest increase from the prior state fiscal year, resulting in a heartening 2.4% increase when the budget took effect. However, as it turns out, that increase was illusory.